mythspediafandomcom-20200216-history
The Titans
The Titans (Greek Τιτάν, plural Τιτάνες) were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary Golden Age in Greek mythology. At the beginning, there were 12 Titans (Apollodorus adds a thirteenth Titan, Dione, a double of Theia). They were associated with various primal concepts, some of which are simply extrapolated from their names: ocean and fruitful earth, sun and moon, memory and natural law. The twelve first-generation Titans were led by the youngest, Kronus, who overthrew their father, Uranus ("Heaven"), at the urgings of their mother, Gaia ("Earth"). The Titans later gave birth to other Titans, notably the sons of Iapetus — Prometheus, Epimetheus, Atlas, and Menoetius. The Titans preceded the Twelve Olympians, but were eventually overthrown by them, led by Zeus, in the Titanomachy ("War of the Titans"), and were imprisoned in Tartarus, the depths of the underworld. The Titans This is a list of Titans Males Uranus Uranus is the son of Gaea, husband of Gaea, god of the sky, the first male Titan and the forefather of nearly all the gods of Greece Coeus Coeus is the son of Uranus and is the god of the axis of Heaven. His wife is Phoebe and his daughters are Leto and Asteria Crius Crius is the son of Uranus and is the god of the South. He is the husband of Eurybia, a daughter of Pontus and Gaia. He is father to Perses, Pallas and Astraios Perses Perses is the god of destruction, son of Crius and Eurybia, husband of Asteria and father of Hekate Pallas Pallas (Πάλλας) is a Titan, associated with war, killed by Athena in the fight with gods. Most sources indicate that he was the son of Crius and Eurybia, the brother of Astraeus and Perses, and the husband of Styx. He was the father of Zelus, Nike, Kratos, and Bia. In addition, he has been named as the father of Scylla, Fontes, and Lacus. Astraios Astraios is the god of the stars. He is the son of Crius and Eurybia. His wife is Eos and his children are Eosphorus (Venus), Notus (West Wind), Zephyrus (South Wind), Eurus (East Wind, Phaeton (Jupiter), Stilbon (Mercury), Phainon (Saturn), Pyroeis (Mars) and Boreas (North Wind). Through Boreas' marriage to the nymph Oreithiya (Mountain Gale), he is gradfather of Khione (Snow) Hyperion Hyperion is the son of Uranus. He is married to Theia and is god of light. His children are Selene, Helios (married to Rhode) and Eos (married to Astraios) Helios Helios is the god of the sun, son of Hyperion and husband of Rhode. His children are Circe the witch, Lampetia (cowherd of the Sacred Cattle) and Pasiphae (Queen Consort of Crete and wife of Minos). Iapetus Iapetus is the son of Gaia and Uranus. He is the husband of the nymph Cylmene (also known as Asia, Fame). He is the forefather of the human race and father of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoitus Atlas Atlas is the god of the Daring and is endurance personified. He is the husband of Aethra and therefore father of the Pleiades, Maia, Hyas, the Hyades, the Hesperides and Hesperus Prometheus Prometheus is the god of fire.He is the god of forethought. He is the creator of humans. Prometheus is the protector of the human species. He was chained to a rock but later freed by his second cousin once removed (Hercules/Heracles) Epimetheus Epimetheus is the god of afterthought. He is the husband of Pandora Menoitus Menoitus is the god of violent anger and rash action. He rebelled against Zeus and was placed in Tartarus along with his father. Lelantos Lelantos is a younger Titan, and god of the wind God of birds sight summer winds and the unseen. His name means the unseen.(in greek of course) Melisseus Melisseus ("bee-man"), the father of the nymphs Adrasteia and Ide (or Aega, according to Hyginus) who nursed the infant Zeus on Crete, was the eldest and leader of the nine Kuretes of Crete. They were chthonic daimones of Mount Ida, who clashed their spears and shields to drown out the wails of infant Zeus, whom they received from the Great Goddess, Rhea, his mother. The infant-god was hidden from his cannibal father and was raised in the cave that was sacred to the Goddess (Da) celebrated by the Kuretes, whose name it bore and still bears. The names of the two daughters of Melisseus, one called the "inevitable" (Adrasteia) and the other simply "goddess" (Ida, de) are names used for the Great Mother Rhea herself. The Dionysiaca of Nonnus, learned and accurate in spite of its late date, elaborates and gives all nine names of the Kuretes. The infant god was fed on milk and honey, the milk of the goat-nymph Amaltheia. Melisseus is simply another form of Melissus, also a Cretan "honey-man," remembered by later mythographers as a "king of Crete." Fermented honey, an entheogen that was the gift of the Goddess, preceded the knowledge of wine in Aegean culture. These honey-kings consorting with the Goddess will have combined their position of authority with a sacral role, but modern interpreters would not follow Robert Graves in asserting that Melliseus "Adrasteia and Io's reputed father, is really their mother, Melissa— the goddess as Queen-bee, who annually killed her male consort." When he came to maturity, Zeus rewarded his nymph nurses with the horn of Amaltheia, the cornucopia or horn of plenty that is always full of food and drink. Callimachus' Hymn to Zeus, full of witty and learned detail on the god's infancy, is at pains to show by etymologies that the mythic figures and geographical features obtained their names, and thus their very identities, through their participation in Zeus'early life. Other poets concur. A less Olympian-minded culture might have suggested that the horn was not actually Zeus' to give, and that it belonged already to the ancient and fertile Minoan-Mycenean nymphs of Crete. In a mythic fragment that explains the connection of early Cretan culture with the island of Rhodes as deriving from Crete, Diodorus Siculus briefly relates that five of the Kuretes sailed from Crete to the Chersonnese (peninsula) opposite Rhodes, with a notable expedition, expelled the Carians who dwelt there, and settling down in the land divided it into five parts, each of them founding a city, which he named after himself. Triopas, one of the sons of Helios and Rhodos herself, who was a fugitive because of the murder of his brother Tenages, fled there and was purified of the murder by Melisseus. Melissus of Samos was a 5th-century Greek philosopher. Olymbros Olymbros was the mentor to Zeus in his early years on Olympus. He later led a rebellion against the Olympians and was killed by Zeus Titan Titan was the Titan of astrology and a teacher to mankind Ophion Ophion was the first child of Gaia and Uranus. He was the husband of Eurynome and supported the claim of Oceanus to the throne on Olympus. He was later wrestled and defeated. Females Gaia A primal entity that represents "Earth" in the sense of a life giving force. She is the consumate "mother nature". She is mother to all 12 of the 'original' Titans and was the mate to Uranus in conceiving all of the them in addition to other such monsters as the Hecatonchires (or "the hundred handed") and the Cyclopses. Tethys Wife of Oceanus and daughter of Uranus Styx Styx is the wife of Pallas and any who bathe in her waters becomes immortal Rhode Wife of Helios Phoebe Wife of Coeus and daughter of Uranus Asteria Wife of Perses. After Perses' imprisonment she changed into the island of Delos and gave her sister a place to give birth. Goddess of prophecy and astrology Leto Mother of Artemis and Apollo by Zeus. Goddess of being Unseen Selene Selene is the goddess of the Moon Eos Eos is the wife of Astraios and goddess of the dawn Metis Mother of Athena by Zeus. Goddess of widom and daghter of Uranus Mnemosyne Mneosyne is the goddess of memory and mother of the Muses by Zeus Theia Theia is the goddess of sight and wife of Hyperion Themis Themis is the goddess of judgement and mother of the Seasons, Fates, Tyche and Nemesis by Zeus Dione Dione was goddess of prophecy and original 'owner' of Delphi for prophesysing and later lent it to Apollo. In some myths she is mother of Aphrodite by Zeus Eurynome Wife of Ophion and later mother of the Hours by Zeus Rhea Rhea is both the sister and the wife of Cronus and is the mother of the original six Olympians. Rhea allowed Zeus to escape being devoured by Cronus by tricking the Titan into eating a rock wrapped in blankets instead. She later caused Cronus to vomit up the other original Olympians by giving him wine mixed with mustard. Hekate Hekate is the daughter of Perses and goddess of magic and witchraft Uranus.jpg|Uranus Oceanus.jpg|Oceanus Coeus.jpg|Coeus Crius.jpg|Crius Perses.jpg|Perses Pallas.jpg|Pallas Astraios.jpg|Astraios Hyperion.jpg|Hyperion Helios.jpg|Helios iapetus.jpg|Iapetus Atlas.jpg|Atlas prometheus.jpg|Prometheus Epimetheus.jpg|Epimetheus with Pandora Gaia.jpg|Gaia Tethys.jpg|Tethys Selene.jpg|Selene eos.jpg|Eos Hekate.jpg|Hekate In Hesiod In Hesiod's Theogony the twelve Titans follow the Hundred-handers and Cyclopes as the youngest set of children of Uranus, heaven, and Gaia, the Earth: :"Afterwards she lay with Heaven and bore deep-swirling Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis and Mnemosyne and gold-crowned Phoebe and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronus the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire." Uranus considered Cronos monstrous, and imprisoned him in the bowels of the Earth. Cronus, was aided by the Hecatonchires and Cyclopes, who then set upon his father, castrated him, and set himself as king of the gods, with Rhea as his wife and queen. Rhea gave birth to a new generation of gods to Cronos, but, in fear that they too would eventually overthrow him, he swallowed them all one by one. Only Zeus was saved: Rhea gave Cronus a stone in swaddling clothes in his place, and placed the infant Zeus in Crete to be guarded by the Kouretes. Once Zeus reached adulthood, he subdued Cronus by wile rather than force, using a potion concocted with the help of Gaia, his grandmother, to forcibly cause Cronus to vomit up Zeus's siblings. A war between younger and older gods commences, in which Zeus is aided by the Hecatonchires, Gigantes, and Cyclopes, who have once again been freed from Tartarus. Zeus wins after a long struggle, and casts many of the Titans down into Tartarus. And yet the older gods leave their mark on the world: Oceanus continues to encircle the world, and the name of "bright shining" Phoebe was attached as an epithet to effulgent Apollo, "Phoebus Apollo". Some of them had not fought the Olympians and became key players in the new administration: Mnemosyne as a Muse, Rhea, Hyperion, Themis, or the "right ordering" of things and Metis. Orphic sources Hesiod is not, however, the last word on the Titans. Surviving fragments of Orphic poetry in particular preserve some variations on the myth. In one Orphic text, Zeus does not simply set upon his father violently. Instead, Rhea spreads out a banquet for Kronos, so that he becomes drunk upon fermented honey. Rather than being consigned to Tartarus, Cronus is dragged — still drunk — to the cave of Night, where he continues to dream and prophesy throughout eternity. Another myth concerning the Titans that is not in Hesiod revolves around Dionysus. At some point in his reign, Zeus decides to give up the throne in favor of the infant Dionysus, who like the infant Zeus is guarded by the Kouretes. The Titans decide to slay the child and claim the throne for themselves; they paint their faces white with gypsum, distract Dionysus with toys, then dismember him and boil and roast his limbs. Zeus, enraged, slays the Titans with his thunderbolt; Athena preserves the heart in a gypsum doll, out of which a new Dionysus is made. This story is told by the poets Callimachus and Nonnus, who call this old Dionysus "Zagreus", and also in a number of Orphic texts, which do not. One iteration of this story, reported by the Neoplatonist philosopher Olympiodorus, writing in the Christian era, says that humanity sprung up out of the fatty smoke of the burning Titan corpses. Other earlier writers imply that humanity was born out of the blood shed by the Titans in their war against Zeus. Pindar, Plato and Oppian refer offhandedly to man's "Titanic nature". Whether this refers to a sort of "original sin" rooted in the murder of Dionysus is hotly debated by scholars. References * Jane Ellen Harrison, Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion, 1912. http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/eos/eos_title.pl?callnum=BL781.H32 * William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870, article on "Titan". * Martin Litchfield West, The Orphic Poems, 1983. External Links * Theoi Project, Titans references to Titans in classical literature * Greek Mythology Link, Titans summary of the Titans myth * Titans article on Wikipedia